Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: October 9, 2017

Located on the Weesperstraat, one of Amsterdam’s main arteries, the Metro Pool Building stretches over seven levels and is a designated national Dutch monument which recently underwent renovations, including a spacious roof garden. In 2016 a new long stay hotel type emerged that embraces the new international live and work concept.

Zoku offers smart lofts with ingenious use of space and common areas of the hotel to work, connect, and facilitate 24/7. Zoku, Japanese for family, tribe, or clan, is a hybrid between a “home-away-from-home” and “office-away-from-the-office” for people who live and work in Amsterdam between five days and three months. A Green Key Gold certified hotel, the light and airy entrance is located at roof level where the roof as a garden and galvanized steel greenhouse are filled with edible greenery to greet visitors and residents.

Designed by Concrete Architectural Associates and De Dakdokters, Zoku’s two rooftop terraces are situated on both sides of the leafy greenhouse. Set within moss sedum greenroof areas are a variety of spacious hexagon-shaped seating, water, and planting bed features.

Veggies and herbs are grown in the greenhouse terrace as well as in beds and raised planters which provide fresh food to the Living Kitchen on the top floor. These home-grown crops from the rooftop garden provide great flavor to the high-quality, weekly changing menu, with organic ingredients purchased from local suppliers where possible.

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Facilitating global living and working for the travelling professional, Zoku believes in offering its residents more green spaces in order to better experience the seasons in an urban environment.

Described as a complete ecosystem, Zoku is a truly mixed use building with an urban greenhouse paradise and its series of outdoor micro-roof gardens for respite and relaxation. Guests can enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of wine on the roof garden, beautifully lit at night, while gazing out over the picturesque Amsterdam skyline.

B. Amsterdam is the biggest startup ecosystem in Europe, a creative co-working and event space for innovation, education, and growth located in the former IBM Headquarters. In 2014 De Dakdokters (The Rooftop Doctors) and GrownDownTown designed and installed an elevated park and edible rooftop garden on the 5th floor as a place accessible to all office workers for relaxation, breaks, and meetings. In 2016 the roof park expanded with a hip industrial restaurant and bar, Bureau, with its own outdoor patio on the roof. As a result, the 5th floor B. Bylon @ B. Amsterdam intensive greenroof park is accessible to everyone.

As an underlayment the designers used a Polder Roof® system to retain water. The greenroof was planted entirely with self-sustaining crops within 90 cubic meters of growing media. At the edge of the pond a small mint meadow grows with eight different flavors of mint, a Mediterranean herb garden as well as a variety of vegetables such as lettuce, bok choy, and leeks. The roof also bears pear trees, grapevines, and ten kinds of berry bushes. Most restaurant products come straight from the rooftop park and are homemade, from mayonnaise to cheesecake. Bureau’s chef Niels Veenvliet changes the menu every two months so patrons can enjoy the ever-changing fresh menu from the roof garden year-round. B. Bylon @ B. Amsterdam is a beautiful rooftop park overlooking the city, and Bureau has been added to the list of Amsterdam’s rooftop hotspots. The result is an edible rooftop park equipped with freshly grown produce, a restaurant, large water feature, two pétanque courts, chicken coops, a compost full of worms, rainwater storage system, plenty of seating, and even two decorative Trabant cars nestled on the roof to be enjoyed by resident employees, Amsterdam residents, and city visitors.